I'm a Mermaid (a PJO / H2O crossover) - Complete

Chapter 24 Pt 2

Percy's POV

All four of us walk into Dr D's lab, with Eros fully briefed on Apollo's plan. I still can't believe I'm letting him come along- he did torture me after all. I still don't know if I believe him either, about him saying that he's changed. I just don't buy it, but I'm probably wrong. For this plan to work, we need to trust each other, so I have an open mind about him, but I'm still weary that he could turn on us at any minute.

"What did you need me for, Dr Denman?" I ask to make her turn around from her work. 

"Percy! You're here, in good time too! Well, most of my sea creatures have fallen very ill, and I don't know what to do with them. It's never happened like this before." She says, clearly lying. She then notices dad, Apollo, and Eros. "Who have you brought with you? Can they help too?"

"She's one of the worst liars I've ever met" Apollo whispers to me.

"I am Phillip Stream, Perseus' father. This is Alex, my nephew and Perseus' cousin, and this is Eric, Alex's friend he brought along."

"Well, lovely to meet you all. It's quite strange that Eric shares a small resemblance to Percy, isn't it? I thought that they were brothers when they walked in together." Dr Denman says. No. I hate that. That's weird. I really hate it. Eros looks similar to me, which means- no. I'm not thinking about that. Just no.

Dr Denman's POV

Percy walked into my lab with two people who looked similar to him, and one person who had blond hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes. He looked like he spent all of his time in the sun, or at least at the beach. One of them looked like Percy, but older, so I'm guessing that that's his father or something, and the last one looked quite a lot like Percy, just slightly older and with lighter green eyes. That must be his brother, for them to share such a resemblance to each other.

"What did you need me for, Dr Denman?" Percy asks, with a small hint of annoyance in his tone. I'm guessing that he was busy, but couldn't resist helping out some poor, ill fish.

"Percy! You're here, in good time too! Well, most of my sea creatures have fallen very ill, and I don't know what to do with them. It's never happened like this before."  I say, "Who have you brought with you? Can they help too?"

The blond one whispers something to Percy, but I can't quite catch on to what he said.

"I am Phillip Stream, Perseus' father. This is Alex, my nephew and Perseus' cousin, and this is Eric, Alex's friend he brought along." Huh, Phillip Stream, great name. I was right about him being Percy's father, but Eric isn't related to them at all? I find that hard to believe, as they look so alike.

"Well, lovely to meet you all. It's quite strange that Eric shares a small resemblance to Percy, isn't it? I thought that they were brothers when they walked in together." I say to them all. Alex and Eric start to laugh, but Phillip and Percy look almost repulsed by what I said, especially Percy. 

Between laughter, I can make out a few words of what Alex and Eric are saying. It goes along the lines of, "I look like him. That's amazing, I can't believe it!" (Eric), and "This is too funny, I'm going to IM everyone later. Poor Perce though." (Alex). What? Wouldn't they have realized the resemblance between the two? Poor Percy? They are very odd people, but anyway. When Percy is treating the fish, I'm going to check if he touches the water, as I have suspicions that he's a merman, and if he doesn't touch it, then I'm going to 'accidentally' spill some on him, to see if he runs out of the lab. Perfect, time to put my plan into motion.

Percy's POV

I still hate the fact that to Dr Denman, Eros looks like me. It's disgusting and repulsive. Apollo and Eros didn't make the situation any better by merely laughing their heads off at it. Anyway, all four of us are still ready to execute the plan with perfection. Dr Denman has what's coming for her. 

Getting back to helping the fish, Dr Denman leads me to one of the tanks that some fish are in. There are so many of them in such a small space, it must be torture for them. 

It is, lord. She poisoned us to lead you here. We don't know what she wants you for though, but please help us, set us free, let us escape her endless torture. The fish say to me in perfect unison. They do have a flair for the dramatics, but I get their point. 

I'll get you out of here, don't worry. She made it look like NTS, didn't she? I say to them, and they tell me exactly what Dr Denman did to them. I really want to kill her now, but that would go against the plan, so I'm restraining myself.

"Well? Do you have any idea what's wring with them?" She asks me.

"I do, they have NTS, which means that I'm going to have to set them free, back into their natural habitat, where they're meant to be. I'll have to do this will all of the other fish too, you know, to prevent this from happening again." I say. Ha. Her plan backfired on me.

"How do you know without actually looking at one up close? And should we take such extreme measures?" She asks, knowing her plan has backfired and clearly panicking.

"The signs are obvious, so we will have to release them. All of them. How about we release them around Mako? We could take a dive to find some new fish as well?" This plan is in motion.

"If it really is necessary, then we may take my boat there." She says, falling as deep into the trap as I did in Tartarus. Whoops, sorry. I have a habit of making those jokes.

"Let's go then. I'll meet you there, I have something to do first, but would you mind taking My father, Alex and Eric with you and the fish?" 

"That's absolutely fine."

I'm about to walk out of the lab when Dr Denman 'trips' and spills water on my hand. Wow, so discrete. That was a total accident. I didn't see that coming at all.

"I'm so sorry Percy." She says. Sure you are. I wipe my hand on my shirt and will it dry so I don't turn into a merman. 

"No problem, it was a complete accident. And It's dry now anyway, shirts are great for that." I say while looking her in the eye. She looks dissatisfied with my response. Good. I'm not going to let her see that I'm a merman now, that would take away from the big reveal later.

I walk out and pull my phone out to call Cleo. I'm going to need some back-up for the plan.

"Hey Percy. Good timing, I was just about to call you." Cleo says as she answers the phone.

"Huh, great. Anyway, there was a favour I wanted to ask if that was ok?"

"Wait- I need to tell you something first."

"Go on then." What does she want to tell me?

"I know about you- about who your father is. About your family, I know that Alex is actually Apollo, god of the sun."

"And knowledge, prophecies, poetry, music, medicine and much more. Wait? Did you say you know? What? How? I mean, I know I haven't been the best at hiding my powers, but how could you figure it out?" I'm so confused. How did she find out?

"Well, Bella heard you talking to Apollo in the moon pool about Annabeth, Rikki saw you fight the Arai and saw Nico appear from nowhere to save you, and Emma saw you talking to Hades. Then they all told me because they thought I knew too, but I didn't so yeah. I have a lot of questions for you, like what were the wars? What did you and Annabeth go through?"

"This will have to wait Cleo, but I need you to swear on the river Styx that you won't tell a soul about this, unless I give you my permission."

"Ok, I get that. I swear on the River Styx that I won't tell a soul about this until I get your permission."

"Thanks Cleo, so now you know. Anyway, dad, Apollo, and Eros are with Dr Denman at the moment and we have a plan that we may need some back-up from you and the other mermaids."

"What exactly are you planning to do?"

"We're going to make sure that Dr Denman will never expose the mer-folk, and that she will never torture anyone or anything again."

"You're not going to right? That would be too risky, but then again, it would work."

"Right, we're going to turn Dr Denman into a mermaid."